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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
Waynewood ES
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Anonymous
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Can anyone tell me how they like Waynewood ES?
I have heard rumors of very competitive parents and clicks amongst the SAHMs vs. WMs. I'm hoping it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be. |
Anonymous
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Wayenwood is an extremely clique-y school. My child's lunch card was used by another student to buy snacks at lunch time. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but I consider this stealing. The cafeteria staff said some students frequently do this to some kids who are on the outside of the "in" group, or hide a student's card in another class pocket so a student cannot find the card. Mean stuff like this. The administration did NOTHING.
One parent demanded that the teacher meet with him weekly for progress updates. The child was a kindergartener. Grandma-ma was a PhD in astrophysics, so clearly that means his child is gifted. This parent verbally abused the teacher at one such meeting in front of the assistant principal. The asst. principal said nothing/did nothing to come to the teacher's defense. No "It's unacceptable to speak to our staff in that manner." I knew someone who substituted for the school, and there's an awful aide there who got extremely angry at a kindergartener for cutting the wrong part of their art paper out. The aide actually berated the student, saying the project was "ruined", etc. This same aide made fun of my student's clothes, too. Another group of moms would make fun of Hollin Meadows Elementary up the road. They referred to it as "Hollin Ghettos." We left. Best thing we ever did. Waynewood is a toxic neighborhood. |
Anonymous
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Okay - the PP scares me. I have heard GREAT things about WW Elementary and that area in general. Such great things that we bought a house in Waynewood.
Can you elaborate as to why you think the neighborhood is toxic?? |
Anonymous
| we moved to ww because of the schools. The kids aren't old enough to go yet, but every single neighbor and every mom at the playground we've spoken to has loved ww elementary. We have loved it here and consider ourselves to be so lucky to be here. Ww es alums say the same good things about having gone there. Best of luck to you, op, and we'll probably meet someday. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Now I'm really nervous. We loved this corridor of the GW Parkway, but tried to buy in this particular neighborhood because of the school. We have lived her for about 3 years and don't know that many neighbors on a very personal level. We live near Crowley, so we participate in the crazy 4th of July block party and ride the train and Jeff & Brian's all summer. However, we haven't seem to get close to any of the neighbors with kids because we both work f/t and when we are not working we seem to be doing projects around our house. DH works somewhat "off" hours so when he's home it's a push to get these projects done in the little amount of the free time we have.
I was hoping that since DD is starting K next year we would meet other families and kids her age, but I had heard a few rumors about WMs being looked down on by the SAHMs and kids of WMs being excluded by the other kids. While I'm not overly worried about this, I was hoping that it wouldn't be a struggle to get connected with other families with kids of a similar age. 9:53 - what did you find the clique's to be? 2 working parents vs. 1 working parent, families that have known each other for a long time vs. newbies, pushier parents vs. laid-back parents? |
Anonymous
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It's the whitest school in the county.
I've never seen the appeal of the area: 1) If you're raving about the ES, why live in a zone with one of the worst MS/HS combo in the county? 2) Is it really walkable to anything or is it just a mix of residential streets like North Springfield? |
Anonymous
Sounds like one of the Vienna posters again, always eager to talk about other schools that are "bad." Did they forget Madison HS is the whitest high school in the county? Is that supposed to be a selling point? A reason to move? |
Anonymous
OP here. I'm not sure what your point is. It is a dominantly white school - that is a fact. Another fact is that a majority of the DC come from families of highly educated parents which in turn increases the number of DC that come into K academically well prepared. This in turn allows the school to allocate resources to enhancement and enrichment programs. Why would I not want to give my DC what I consider the best academic program I can afford? (1) If we feel the middle/high school will not provide what our DC needs we can afford private school. (2) not ALL people want a "walkable" neighborhood. I do not have time to "walk" all of my errands. We previously lived in Del Ray and it was easy for us to give up the walkability of the neighborhood for: - the beautiful scenery of the GW Pkwy - the friendly and fun neighbors - the EASY access to many major highways, our jobs, and stores we frequent - the larger houses - the quieter streets - the better schools Everyone has different preferences and priorities and I can clearly see why other may choose to live in different areas, but this neighborhood meets our preferences and priorities the best. I'm not even sure why you posted on this thread. It has nothing to do with what I was asking. I'm looking for some insight into the specific dynamics of my neighborhood, not your assessment of my neighborhood. We are extremely happy about our choice of neighborhood so I do not want to debate this with you. If you don't like then don't move here. |
Anonymous
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OP, if you're so happy about the neighborhood, why are you posting with concerns about the ES? If the neighbors have been friendly and fun so far, why would they suddenly turn into harpies when your DC hits school age? FWIW there will be jerks everywhere. Point well taken on walkable neighborhood.
10:54, why does it matter where I'm from? FWIW, I do know at least one parent in that area who regrets not checking into the MS/HS part of the pyramid before moving. Whether she will homeschool, go private, move, or tough it out remains to be seen as the kid's in 2nd grade. This unfairly colors my impression of the area. |
Anonymous
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Wow, having lived in WW for almost 10 years, it's pretty comical to read this thread - especially the SAHM/WM BS and 9:53's assessment.
Is it harder for homes where both parents are working day jobs to get to know the neighbors? Well, using common sense, I would say yes it probably is - not just in WW but anywhere! Are there cliques? I hear there are but haven't experienced any yet. Most of us meet when our kids are in preschool or early elementary. I've found my kids' ages and activities (like Scouts, sports, etc.) mostly determine my friends, as well as who's at the pool at the same time I am, my neighbors...nothing unusual about that. Yes, this area is full of for the most part professionals. Over the past few years, it appears (from the number of nannies at the park, granted it's pure speculation on my part) that more families moving in recently are dual income. Given the economy and high housing prices, this makes sense. Unless you're afraid of exposing your kids to diversity as they get older, the jr. high and high school are fine - and yes, the WW kids are almost all college bound despite going to the some of the so-called "lowest" performing schools in FC. BTW, I've never heard of Hollin Meadows referred to as Hollin Ghettos. We know lots of families there and none of them live in the ghettos. I don't get the racism present here. There are lots of low income people living along Rte. 1 and many are immigrants trying to get ahead, but I've never seen any ghettos along there - unless a few trailer parks tucked back off the road are now considered ghettos. |
Anonymous
So where are you from? You'd have some credibility discussing the West Potomac pyramid if you actually live here. Otherwise, in my book, you're just one more poster who tries to justify how much she paid for a house in a "good" school district where her kids can attend school with lots of other Susies and Biffs. |
Anonymous
OP here again - I don't believe my comment about the WM/SAHMs is comical. I had a mom approach me talking about how she showed up to drop off her kid on the 1st day of school and was wearing sweats when all of the other parents were dressed up. She said that she was dressed that way because it was her typical cleaning day then jokingly said -isn't Monday every one's cleaning day? I joked back that every night is cleaning day for me since I work f/t. The conversation dwindled rapidly from there and she eventually walked away and never spoke to me again. I have also had pleasant conversations with other moms in the park until somehow working comes up and then it all seems to go downhill from there. I do not usually bring the subject because while I think each lifestyle poses different challenges I don't think it absolutely defines us. But to many it does seem to matter a lot. The point of my post was to hopefully hear that what I have heard is incorrect or blown out of proportion. You say there are no cliques but yet mention that you meet when your kids are in school. Obviously, working parents/moms couldn't meet up then. But, as you also say I can probably look forward to meeting other moms and families through my DCs activities and sports. So, that's something to look forward to. We also haven't joined to pool yet because of our summer schedules but I look forward to joining and meeting more neighbors that way also. I do agree with you about Hollin Meadows as we have some friends that live there also and find the area to nice. I'm also not turned off by the MS/HS as I attended a very racially and economically diverse school which had the IB program. So, like I said before, as long as the school can provide for our DCs academic needs (whatever they may be) we will consider the public schools first. |
Anonymous
(9:53 again) You seem like the kind of person who will do fine there because you are paying attention. Here are some generalizations from my experience living there: -There is a Stepford-like quality to the neighborhood. When there is a problem, these people will completely ignore it/pretend that it does not exist. -The parents who control things at the school feel they have the right to be in control, and they don't want others to take it. They spin things to put themselves, the school, and the neighborhood in an unrealistically perfect light. -If a mom is not with the "in" group of clique-y or aggressive PTA moms, her child will likely be given the lower tier of teachers. -The pressure to conform there was creepy while we were there. Individuality among children was not tolerated by the school, nor by the parents. Hopefully new families moving to Waynewood will have changed the atmosphere for the better. For us, the quality of life there did not live up to the hype. |
Anonymous
Can I ask where you moved to and whether it was any better? Do you think your experience related specifically to Waynewood or just to Northern Virginia generally? |
Anonymous
Want to meet? I'm a working mom who will have a DC in K at WW next year too. We can be friends! |